Originally published at crisis magazine
A few years ago, I stumbled upon a stack of old copies of The Chesterton Review at a parish book sale; so naturally, I bought about 20 copies. The first edition I read was an issue focusing on the question of whether G.K. Chesterton was a fascist. The first essay proposed that he was a fascist, or at least his ideas were adjacent to or in favor of fascism, and the subsequent four essays argued the opposite. I cannot recall who all the authors were, although I do remember that Joseph Pearce was one who argued that Chesterton was not, in fact, a fascist; I never forget something that I read from Pearce.
In any event, it was a splendid activity to read those essays, and I was thoroughly impressed with each writer, even if I wholeheartedly disagreed with the first essay arguing for Chestertonian fascism. It was, quite frankly, so refreshing to read a debate in that format—a format that ensured no author could be misrepresented and, because of the editing process, there was not a hint of ad hominem shenanigans, and the arguments were supremely organized.
On another occasion, when I was fresh into my “reversion” to the
